I had just gotten an idea that people who bashed philosophy as useless often didn't study or learn philosophy before. This is after watching some wisecrack youtube videos on the philosophy of ... many stuffs.
After watching some of those videos, you too would be amazed at how much of the actions of the people in the movies, shows, celebrities, etc is influenced by their underlying philosophical ideas and when we consume these stories, their philosophy comes to rub off in us and influence us. Most of the time it is done without explicit awareness, ending up that we inherent certain philosophy which would determine our behaviour just from the media we are exposed to. Often there is a feeling accompanying the philosophy and we end up either unconsciously adopting the philosophy because we like it or rejecting it because of the way it presented made us disgusted with it. Learning philosophy made us aware of the views we have within and the views of those around us. This can in turn raise awareness of what we actually believe and if it is useful to believe in these.
So it comes to no surprise that the right in the other seven factors of the noble eightfold path comes from having right view. Or in other words, adopting the philosophy of Buddhism as one's own philosophy. With this in place, our thoughts, speech, actions, even jobs, effort, mindfulness and meditation follows.
Right thoughts or motivation is essentially part of psychology to avoid ill-will and cruelty and to develop renunciation. If applied to many if not all psychological problems, it can help tremendously.
Based on the reinventing your life book by jeffrey e young, and janet s klosko, here are how 3 right thoughts can help in their 11 life traps: (Note that there is more in the book, here is just a very quick fit. Sometimes not so well fitted in.)
Abandonment: apply letting go of people close to you, because of clinging too much, there is the fear of them abandoning you. It is not to abandon them prematurely, but to recognize that there is separation and coming together and that over clinging causes the emotional isolation.
Mistrust and Abuse: apply loving kindness and compassion to yourself to get out of abusive relationship, apply to others to not abuse them.
Dependence: renunciation of depending on others too much have more love and compassion for others to develop one's own independence. For counterdependence, learn to renounce having to depend on oneself all the time even when asking for help is reasonable, have more self love and compassion to have a little healthy dependence.
Vulnerabilities: renunciation of overclinging to life (reflection on death) which caused the excessive fear of dangers from the outside world. Apply non-ill will towards the things you fear. See how unlikely it is to happen.
Emotional deprivation: apply loving kindness to self.
Social exclusion: apply letting go of having to be perfect to belong. Accept yourself with loving kindness, be yourself.
Defectiveness: apply loving kindness to self. Accept loving kindness from people close to you.
Failure: apply loving kindness to self.
Subjugation: love yourself, not only others.
Unrelenting standards: able to renounce the perfection standards.
Entitlement: let go of feeling entitled to everything, that feeling of specialness to accept limits.
Right speech is a good reflection on literature, art, body language, public policy, public relations, media etc. Of how best to convey messages and what to convey: true, harmonious, kind, beneficial and timely.
Right action is sort of like politics and sociology and law. How people come together and agree not to kill, steal or commit sexual misconduct on each other to form a stable nice society!
Right livelihood goes into economics and sociology. What sort of jobs are worth doing and what is not, how this can make society better off. Is living the full time practitioner the best use of your time if everyone gets universal basic income?
Right effort goes into politics, psychology, philosophy of ethics, policy planning, financial planning etc. On how to guide oneself away from unwholsome towards wholesome. Or putting the right policy to guide outcomes, or investing in the right qualities.
Right mindfulness feels to me like science as in data gathering. We just observe and let wisdom do the letting go when enough data has been collected to see things as they truly are.
Right stillness/meditation feels like technology. It is the ultimate tool of the mind, ultimate upgrade to be able to use the calmness and that sharp, strong mind to advance the science of uncovering reality as applied by right mindfulness. Done right, the side effects may even include supernatural powers just like technological powered superheroes.
